U.S. patent application number 14/943987 was filed with the patent office on 2017-05-18 for error and special case handling using cloud account.
The applicant listed for this patent is SAP Portals Israel Ltd.. Invention is credited to Eyal Nathan, Yan Vulich.
Application Number | 20170141953 14/943987 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 58690344 |
Filed Date | 2017-05-18 |
United States Patent
Application |
20170141953 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Vulich; Yan ; et
al. |
May 18, 2017 |
ERROR AND SPECIAL CASE HANDLING USING CLOUD ACCOUNT
Abstract
In an example embodiment, a method of redirecting responses from
an application server in a cloud environment is provided. A request
is received from an instance of an application operating on a
client device. The request is forwarded to an application server
corresponding to the application. A generic error message from the
application server sent in response to the user request is
intercepted and the generic error message is redirected to a
special application server hosting a special account established
for the application, the special account indicating one or more
actions to take in response to receipt of a generic error message,
the one or more actions causing generation of a special error
message and sending of the special error message to the instance of
the application operating on the client device.
Inventors: |
Vulich; Yan; (Kiryat Ono,
IL) ; Nathan; Eyal; (Ruet, IL) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
SAP Portals Israel Ltd. |
Ra 'Anana |
|
IL |
|
|
Family ID: |
58690344 |
Appl. No.: |
14/943987 |
Filed: |
November 17, 2015 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04L 67/18 20130101;
H04L 69/40 20130101; H04L 67/2814 20130101; H04L 67/1014 20130101;
H04L 67/1034 20130101; H04L 41/5061 20130101 |
International
Class: |
H04L 12/24 20060101
H04L012/24; H04L 29/06 20060101 H04L029/06 |
Claims
1. A method of redirecting responses from an application server in
a cloud environment, the method comprising: receiving a request
from an instance of an application operating on a client device;
forwarding the request to the application server corresponding to
the application; intercepting a generic error message from the
application server sent in response to the user request; and
redirecting the generic error message to a special application
server hosting a special account established for the application,
the special account indicating one or more actions to take in
response to receipt of the generic error message, the one or more
actions causing generation of a special error message and sending
of the special error message to the instance of the application
operating on the client device.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is performed on a
dispatcher in the cloud environment.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is performed on the
client device.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the request includes a cookie
indicating a location for the application server and the forwarding
utilizes the location in determining how to send the request.
5. The method of claim 4, wherein the cookie is generated by the
application server.
6. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving metadata
from the application server along with the generic error message
and sending the metadata to the special application server to be
used in generating the special error message.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein the special account indicates one
or more rules to execute to determine which of a plurality of
possible special error messages should be generated, based upon
information received in the redirection.
8. A system comprising: an error message redirection component
executable by one or more processors and configured to: receive a
request from an instance of an application operating on a client
device; forward the request to an application server corresponding
to the application; intercept a generic error message from the
application server sent in response to the user request; and
redirect the generic error message to a special application server
hosting a special account established for the application, the
special account indicating one or more actions to take in response
to receipt of a generic error message, the one or more actions
causing generation of a special error message and sending of the
special error message to the instance of the application operating
on the client device.
9. The system of claim 8, wherein the error message redirection
component is located on a dispatcher in the cloud environment.
10. The system of claim 8, wherein the error message redirection
component is located on the client device.
11. The system of claim 8, wherein the request includes a cookie
indicating a location for the application server and the forwarding
utilizes the location in determining how to send the request.
12. The system of claim 11, wherein the cookie is generated by the
application server.
13. The system of claim 8, wherein the error message redirection
component is further configured to receive metadata from the
application server along with the generic error message and send
the metadata to the special application server to be used in
generating the special error message.
14. The system of claim 8, wherein the special account indicates
one or more rules to execute to determine which of a plurality of
possible special error messages should be generated, based upon
information received in the redirection.
15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising
instructions that, when executed by at least one processor of a
machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:
receiving a request from an instance of an application operating on
a client device; forwarding the request to an application server
corresponding to the application; intercepting a generic error
message from the application server sent in response to the user
request; and redirecting the generic error message to a special
application server hosting a special account established for the
application, the special account indicating one or more actions to
take in response to receipt of the generic error message, the one
or more actions causing generation of a special error message and
sending of the special error message to the instance of the
application operating on the client device.
16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim
15, wherein the method is performed on a dispatcher in the cloud
environment.
17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim
15, wherein the method is performed on the client device.
18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim
15, wherein the request includes a cookie indicating a location for
the application server and the forwarding utilizes the location in
determining how to send the request.
19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim
18, wherein the cookie is generated by the application server.
20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim
15, further comprising receiving metadata from the application
server along with the generic error message and sending the
metadata to the special application server to be used in generating
the special error message.
Description
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] This document generally relates to systems and methods for
use with cloud computing accounts. More specifically, this document
relates to methods and systems for error and special case handling
using a cloud account.
BACKGROUND
[0002] In a cloud application environment, a cloud server enables
data and/or states of an instance of an application to be stored at
a different location than the instance of the application is
installed or the device on which it executes. Typically, a
centralized storage mechanism is used that stores data and/or
application states for a number of different users (also called
tenants) simultaneously. In order for the data for each user/tenant
to be secure, typically each user/account is isolated, in that data
from one user or tenant is not accessible by another user or
tenant, even when data for both users/tenants are stored in the
same storage device.
[0003] A user running a cloud application may run the application
through a browser environment, and thus actions taken within the
application result in calls to one or more web pages. Sometimes
when a user performs an action within the application the result is
a standard browser error, similar to when a website cannot be found
(e.g., error 404 or error 503). This can occur for a variety of
different reasons. Sometimes the function attempting to be
performed has been taken offline by the provider for servicing.
Sometimes the connection between the browser and the web page
provider is down. Additionally, it is common for providers of
applications running in a cloud to provide trial accounts (e.g., 30
day trial) to new user. After these accounts expire, the various
web pages launched by particular actions within the application are
inaccessible, and thus return the standard browser error.
[0004] Such errors are very uninformative and confusing to end
users. Users are unable to determine the reason behind the error
and, more specifically, are unable to determine whether the reason
is something they can remedy (e.g., trial period has expired) or
something they cannot (e.g., web page has been taken down
temporarily for servicing).
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
[0005] The present disclosure is illustrated by way of example and
not limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings, in
which like references indicate similar elements and in which:
[0006] FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a system, in
accordance with an example embodiment, for enabling cloud-based
applications.
[0007] FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a modified system, in
accordance with another example embodiment, for enabling
cloud-based applications.
[0008] FIG. 3 is an interaction diagram illustrating a method, in
accordance with an example embodiment, of establishing and
utilizing a cookie for error message redirection.
[0009] FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating modified system, in
accordance with another example embodiment, for enabling
cloud-based applications.
[0010] FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating a method, in
accordance with an example embodiment, of redirecting responses
from an application server in a cloud environment.
[0011] FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a representative
software architecture, which may be used in conjunction with
various hardware architectures herein described.
[0012] FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating components of a
machine, according to some example embodiments, able to read
instructions from a machine-readable medium (e.g., a
machine-readable storage medium) and perform any one or more of the
methodologies discussed herein.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0013] The description that follows includes illustrative systems,
methods, techniques, instruction sequences, and computing machine
program products that embody illustrative embodiments. In the
following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous
specific details are set forth in order to provide an understanding
of various embodiments of the inventive subject matter. It will be
evident, however, to those skilled in the art, that embodiments of
the inventive subject matter may be practiced without these
specific details. In general, well-known instruction instances,
protocols, structures, and techniques have not been shown in
detail.
[0014] In an example embodiment, errors or special cases are
detected from application server responses in a cloud environment.
A special account previously established with the application
server is then used to generate a specialized response to a user
based on the application server responses. Thus, rather than the
application server responses, which may be generic messages, being
sent to a client device operated by a user, a specialized response
can be sent that indicates the nature of the error or special
case.
[0015] FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a system 100, in
accordance with an example embodiment, for enabling cloud-based
applications. The system 100 includes one or more client devices
102A-102C, each of which may run an instance 104A-104C of an
application.
[0016] In order to extend an application in the cloud, a cloud
operating system 106 may operate a dispatcher 108 to dispatch
requests from the various instances 104A-104C of applications among
multiple application servers 110A-110C. It should be noted that,
even though the requests themselves are generated by the various
instances 104A-104C of the applications running on the client
devices 102A-102C, these requests are still known as user requests
as they often occur in response to some sort of user interaction
with an instance 104A-104C of the application. In some example
embodiments, the various instances 104A-104C may be integrated into
other applications, such as browsers, or embedded in an operating
system.
[0017] Each application server 110A-110B may operate server-side
functionality for an application. In some example embodiments,
multiple application servers 110A-110B may provide server-side
functionality for the same application, allowing for load balancing
and redundancy among the appropriate application servers 110A-110B.
In other example embodiments, multiple application servers
110A-110B may service instances 104A-104B of different
applications. In some example embodiments, a combination of
redundant application servers 110A-110B and individualized
application servers 110A-110B are used. Thus, the dispatcher 108
may distribute user requests based upon the underlying application
instances 104A-104B from which they were generated and/or based on
one or more load balancing techniques.
[0018] Regardless of how the dispatcher 108 chooses to dispatch a
user request, eventually the user request winds up being sent to an
application server 110A-110B. For example, in FIG. 1, user request
1 is sent to application server 110A. Typically, the application
server 110A would then service the user request. If the application
server 110A requires user credentials (e.g., user name and
password, if a subscription-based model), then a cloud-based user
credentials verifier 112 verifies that the user credentials
provided are valid. If not (e.g., if a trial subscription has
expired, or the user has not renewed a paid subscription, both of
which may result in deletion of the account), then when the user
request is passed to the application server 110A, an error message
is returned. In many cases, this error message is merely a generic
error message indicating that the requested action (e.g., visiting
a particular web page) cannot be performed. The result is that the
user is unaware of the reasons why the action cannot be
performed.
[0019] While an application server 110A-110B can be designed to
generate a more specific message, application servers 110A-110B are
often designed and maintained by application providers, which can
often be different entities than the entity designing and
maintaining the cloud environment. Thus, whether or not a
particular application server 110A provides specific error messages
or generic error messages is often outside of the control of the
cloud operator.
[0020] FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a modified system
100, in accordance with another example embodiment, for enabling
cloud-based applications. The modified system 100 is similar to
system 100 of FIG. 1, except that the dispatcher 108 has been
modified to include an error message redirection component 202 and
the modified system 100 now includes a special application server
204. Additionally, an additional account is added for the
application running on the application server 110A, which will be
called the "special account" 206. In an example embodiment, a
separate special account 206 is set up for each application in the
cloud. As will be seen, this allows an administrator to set up
different error messages or error message handling on an
application-by-application basis.
[0021] In this example embodiment, when a generic error message is
generated by the application server 110A, the error message
redirection component 202 intercepts the generic error message and
redirects it to the special application server 204. This
redirection may include whatever information that the error message
redirection component 202 has regarding the generic error message
including, for example, information about the application server
110A that sent the generic error message, a uniform resource
locator (URL) that was attempted to be accessed when the generic
error message was sent, any metadata received with the error
message, packet information sent with the generic error message,
etc.
[0022] At the special application server 204, the information sent
with the redirection is used to identify the particular special
account 206 to utilize. Since each special account 206 corresponds
to a different application, the information about which application
server 110A-110B sent the generic error message may be highly
useful in determining which special account 206 to utilize.
[0023] The special account 206 specifies one or more actions to
take in response to the receipt of the redirection. The actions
taken can vary depend ending upon implementation and the amount of
information passed to the special application server 204 during the
redirection. In some instances, for example, the special
application server 204 may know nothing more than that the generic
error message was generated by an attempt to access a particular
URL on a particular application server 110A-110B. In such an
instance, the special account 206 may specify an error message that
represents the error message with the highest likelihood of being
accurate. This may often be that the user credentials could not be
verified, but may not always be the case. For example, if the
application server 110A or other cloud environment component is
under maintenance, an administrator may temporarily alter the
actions specified in the special account 206 to indicate that the
action is unable to be performed due to system maintenance. In
other words, the administrator can make the special account 206
generate any message to his or her liking and may change that
message at any time. Because the special account 206 is unique to
the application, the result is that the administrator can set
different messages for different applications. Thus, if, for
example, a first application is under maintenance while a second
application is not under maintenance, then the special account 206
associated with the first application may be modified so that it
generates a special message indicating that the action cannot be
performed due to system maintenance while the special account 206
associated with the second application may be modified so that it
generates a special message indicating that the action cannot be
performed because the user credentials cannot be validated.
[0024] In another example embodiment, the special account 206 may
specify a set of rules which, when executed, determine which of a
plurality of different special error messages to generate and send.
These rules may utilize, for example, the information from the
error message redirection component 202 (e.g., metadata).
Additionally, the error message redirection component 202 may be
further modified to gather additional information that may be
useful to the rules. For example, the error message redirection
component 202 could monitor and parse the user requests themselves
to determine what the user was attempting to do when the error
message occurred. This may be useful in determining what type of
error message to generate. Java or other parameters generated by or
through the processing of these user requests can also be gathered
and used in this determination. In a further example embodiment,
the special application server 204 includes an error determination
component 208 that acts to perform the analysis of all the
available data (e.g., parameters, metadata, etc.) and determine
what the root reason for the error was. This information is then
used by the special account 206 in determining a special error
message to send.
[0025] In an example embodiment, the error message redirection
component 202 can be selectively activated by the instance 104A
-104C of the application running on the client device 102A-102C.
This may be performed, for example, through the use of a cookie
stored on the client device 102A-102C that is passed by the
instance 104A-104C along with any requests that may be redirected
if necessary. The cookie may contain the location of the special
application server 204. When the dispatcher 108 encounters a user
request with the cookie, it is signaled to intercept and examine
the response to the user request from the application server 100A
and redirect a generic error message to the location specified in
the cookie. The cookie may also indicate any parameters, data,
metadata, or other information that should be captured and sent
along with the redirect to the special application server 204.
[0026] In an example embodiment, the cookie may be passed to the
client device 102A-102C from the application server 110A upon the
first time the corresponding instance 104A-104C accesses the
application server 110A. FIG. 3 is an interaction diagram
illustrating a method, in accordance with an example embodiment, of
establishing and utilizing a cookie for error message redirection.
Here, process 300 indicates a process that occurs upon a first
access by an instance 302 to an application server 304. A request
306 is passed to the dispatcher 308, which passes the request 306
to the application server 304. The application server 304 then
processes the request 306 and generates a response 310. The
response 310 includes the cookie 312, as described earlier. The
dispatcher 308 then forwards the response 310 and cookie 312 to the
instance 302, which stores the cookie 312 locally, e.g., in a local
nonvolatile memory.
[0027] Later, as depicted at process 314, when a subsequent user
request 316 is generated by the instance 302, the cookie 312 is
included with the subsequent user request. Upon receiving this, the
dispatcher 308 records the user request 316 that included the
cookie 312 and stores the cookie 312 temporarily. Then it waits for
a response 318 to the user request 316 to be received. Once the
dispatcher 308 receives this response 318, it determines if the
response 318 is a generic error message and, if so, redirects the
error message and whatever other information may be useful (such as
information it gathered or stored when detecting the cookie 312) to
the location specified in the cookie 312 which, in this case, is
special application server 320, which generates a special error
message 322 that is then forwarded to the instance 302.
[0028] In some example embodiments, rather than a dispatcher 308
performing the redirection, the redirection occurs on the client
device 201A-201C, such as in the instance 104A-104C or in a web
browser. FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a modified system
400, in accordance with another example embodiment, for enabling
cloud-based applications. The modified system 400 is similar to
system 100 of FIG. 2, except that the error message redirection
component 202 is located in the client device 102A.
[0029] In this example embodiment, when a generic error message is
generated by the application server 110A, the error message
redirection component 202 intercepts the generic error message and
redirects it to the special application server 204. This
redirection may include whatever information that the error message
redirection component 202 has regarding the generic error message,
including, for example, information about the application server
110A that sent the generic error message, a uniform resource
locator (URL) that was attempted to be accessed when the generic
error message was sent, any metadata received with the error
message, packet information sent with the generic error message,
etc. Rather than this occurring at the dispatcher 108, however, as
in FIG. 2, this occurs at the client device 102A.
[0030] At the special application server 204, the information sent
with the redirection is used to identify the particular special
account 206 to utilize, and then the appropriate special error
message 322 is generated, as described above with respect to FIG.
2.
[0031] FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating a method 500, in
accordance with an example embodiment, of redirecting responses 310
from an application server 110A-110B in a cloud environment. In
some example embodiments, the method is performed at a dispatcher
108 in a cloud environment. In other example embodiments, the
method is performed at a client device 102A-102C. At operation 502,
a request 316 from an instance 104A-104C of an application
operating on a client device 102A-102C is received. This request
316 may be a request 316 to perform a particular action within the
application, the action being one that uses the application server
110A-110B to perform. For example, the action may be a navigation
action taken in a user interface of the application which causes a
request 316 for additional data to be generated and sent to the
application server 110A-110B for fulfillment.
[0032] At operation 504, the request 316 is forwarded to an
application server 110A-110B corresponding to the application. This
may be performed by, for example, first identifying a list of
possible application servers 110A-110B based on the application.
There may be, for example, more than one application server
110A-110B devoted to an application, which can be used for
redundancy and/or load balancing purposes. Once the possible
application servers 110A-110B are identified, a dispatcher 108 may
determine which of the possible application servers 110A-110B to
which to forward the request 316. This may include, for example,
using a load balancing algorithm to select an appropriate
application server 110A-110B.
[0033] In some example embodiments, at this stage, an error message
redirection component 202 that is performing the method 500 may
begin to track information about the request 316 in order to
include the information in future redirection. This tracking may
begin, for example, at the detection of a cookie 312 in the request
316 that identifies a location of a special application server 204
for redirection. The error message redirection component 202 may
receive and forward many requests 316 for many different
application servers 110A-110B (and from many different client
devices 102A-102C, if the error message redirection component 202
is located on a particular client device 102A as opposed to, for
example, on a dispatcher 108 in the cloud). In light of this, the
error message redirection component 202 may contain a mechanism to
track which requests 316 are those that may have responses 310
requiring redirection and distinguish them from requests 316 that
may have responses 310 that do not require redirection. A table
accessible by the error message redirection component 202, for
example, can be used to store identifiers for instances 104A-104C
of applications whose requests 316 may have responses 310 requiring
redirection. An identifier for an application may be added to the
table upon receipt of the cookie 312 in a request 316 from an
instance 104A-104C of the application. These identifiers may be
included in the responses 310 themselves sent from the application
servers 110A-110B. The error message redirection component 202 is
then able to inspect responses 310 and compare identifiers in the
responses 310 to the identifiers in the table to determine whether
redirection is appropriate.
[0034] Once the application server 110A-110B receives the request
316, it may service the request 316 and generate a response 310. As
described above, this response 310 may include an identifier of the
application which can be seen by the error message redirection
component 202. The response 310 may be a generic error message or
some other type of response (e.g., a response 310 fulfilling the
request 316). The method 500 is only concerned with generic error
messages from application servers 110A-110B corresponding to
applications identified in the table or otherwise indicated that
whose responses 310 are subject to redirection.
[0035] At operation 506, a generic error message from the
application server 110A-110B sent in response to the user request
316 is received. At operation 508, the generic error message is
redirected to a special application server 204 hosting a special
account 206 established for the application. The location of the
special application server 204 may be obtained from the cookie 312.
The special account 206 indicates one or more actions to take in
response to receipt of a generic error message. The one or more
actions cause generation of a special error message 322 and the
sending of the special error message 322 to the instance 104A-1104C
of the application operating on the client device 102A-102C. The
redirection may include sending along any metadata about the
generic error message sent from the application server 110A-110B
along with the generic error message or any other information the
error message redirection component 202 is aware of regarding the
request 316, instance 104A-1104C of the application, application,
or response 310 that may be helpful in the special application
server 204 determining which special error message 322 to
generate.
Modules, Components, and Logic
[0036] Certain embodiments are described herein as including logic
or a number of components, modules, or mechanisms. Modules may
constitute either software modules (e.g., code embodied on a
machine-readable medium) or hardware modules. A "hardware module"
is a tangible unit capable of performing certain operations and may
be configured or arranged in a certain physical manner. In various
example embodiments, one or more computer systems (e.g., a
standalone computer system, a client computer system, or a server
computer system) or one or more hardware modules of a computer
system (e.g., a processor or a group of processors) may be
configured by software (e.g., an application or application
portion) as a hardware module that operates to perform certain
operations as described herein.
[0037] In some embodiments, a hardware module may be implemented
mechanically, electronically, or any suitable combination thereof.
For example, a hardware module may include dedicated circuitry or
logic that is permanently configured to perform certain operations.
For example, a hardware module may be a special-purpose processor,
such as a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) or an application
specific integrated circuit (ASIC). A hardware module may also
include programmable logic or circuitry that is temporarily
configured by software to perform certain operations. For example,
a hardware module may include software executed by a
general-purpose processor or other programmable processor. Once
configured by such software, hardware modules become specific
machines (or specific components of a machine) uniquely tailored to
perform the configured functions and are no longer general-purpose
processors. It will be appreciated that the decision to implement a
hardware module mechanically, in dedicated and permanently
configured circuitry, or in temporarily configured circuitry (e.g.,
configured by software) may be driven by cost and time
considerations.
[0038] Accordingly, the phrase "hardware module" should be
understood to encompass a tangible entity, be that an entity that
is physically constructed, permanently configured (e.g.,
hardwired), or temporarily configured (e.g., programmed) to operate
in a certain manner or to perform certain operations described
herein. As used herein, "hardware-implemented module" refers to a
hardware module. Considering embodiments in which hardware modules
are temporarily configured (e.g., programmed), each of the hardware
modules need not be configured or instantiated at any one instance
in time. For example, where a hardware module comprises a
general-purpose processor configured by software to become a
special-purpose processor, the general-purpose processor may be
configured as respectively different special-purpose processors
(e.g., comprising different hardware modules) at different times.
Software accordingly configures a particular processor or
processors, for example, to constitute a particular hardware module
at one instance of time and to constitute a different hardware
module at a different instance of time.
[0039] Hardware modules can provide information to, and receive
information from, other hardware modules. Accordingly, the
described hardware modules may be regarded as being communicatively
coupled. Where multiple hardware modules exist contemporaneously,
communications may be achieved through signal transmission (e.g.,
over appropriate circuits and buses) between or among two or more
of the hardware modules. In embodiments in which multiple hardware
modules are configured or instantiated at different times,
communications between such hardware modules may be achieved, for
example, through the storage and retrieval of information in memory
structures to which the multiple hardware modules have access. For
example, one hardware module may perform an operation and store the
output of that operation in a memory device to which it is
communicatively coupled. A further hardware module may then, at a
later time, access the memory device to retrieve and process the
stored output. Hardware modules may also initiate communications
with input or output devices, and can operate on a resource (e.g.,
a collection of information).
[0040] The various operations of example methods described herein
may be performed, at least partially, by one or more processors
that are temporarily configured (e.g., by software) or permanently
configured to perform the relevant operations. Whether temporarily
or permanently configured, such processors may constitute
processor-implemented modules that operate to perform one or more
operations or functions described herein. As used herein,
"processor-implemented module" refers to a hardware module
implemented using one or more processors.
[0041] Similarly, the methods described herein may be at least
partially processor-implemented, with a particular processor or
processors being an example of hardware. For example, at least some
of the operations of a method may be performed by one or more
processors or processor-implemented modules. Moreover, the one or
more processors may also operate to support performance of the
relevant operations in a "cloud computing" environment or as a
"software as a service" (SaaS). For example, at least some of the
operations may be performed by a group of computers (as examples of
machines including processors), with these operations being
accessible via a network (e.g., the Internet) and via one or more
appropriate interfaces (e.g., an application program interface
(API)).
[0042] The performance of certain of the operations may be
distributed among the processors, not only residing within a single
machine, but deployed across a number of machines. In some example
embodiments, the processors or processor-implemented modules may be
located in a single geographic location (e.g., within a home
environment, an office environment, or a server farm). In other
example embodiments, the processors or processor-implemented
modules may be distributed across a number of geographic
locations.
Machine and Software Architecture
[0043] The modules, methods, applications and so forth described in
conjunction with FIGS. 1-5 are implemented, in some embodiments, in
the context of a machine and an associated software architecture.
The sections below describe representative software architecture(s)
and machine (e.g., hardware) architecture(s) that are suitable for
use with the disclosed embodiments.
[0044] Software architectures are used in conjunction with hardware
architectures to create devices and machines tailored to particular
purposes. For example, a particular hardware architecture coupled
with a particular software architecture will create a mobile
device, such as a mobile phone, tablet device, or so forth. A
slightly different hardware and software architecture may yield a
smart device for use in the "internet of things" while yet another
combination produces a server computer for use within a cloud
computing architecture. Not all combinations of such software and
hardware architectures are presented here as those of skill in the
art can readily understand how to implement the inventive subject
matter in different contexts from the disclosure contained
herein.
Software Architecture
[0045] FIG. 6 is a block diagram 600 illustrating a representative
software architecture 602, which may be used in conjunction with
various hardware architectures herein described. FIG. 6 is merely a
non-limiting example of a software architecture 602 and it will be
appreciated that many other architectures may be implemented to
facilitate the functionality described herein. The software
architecture 602 may be executing on hardware such as machine 700
of FIG. 7 that includes, among other things, processors 710,
memory/storage 730, and I/O components 750. A representative
hardware layer 604 is illustrated and can represent, for example,
the machine 700 of FIG. 7. The representative hardware layer 604
comprises one or more processing units 606 having associated
executable instructions 608. Executable instructions 608 represent
the executable instructions of the software architecture 602,
including implementation of the methods, modules and so forth of
FIGS. 1-5. Hardware layer 604 also includes memory and/or storage
modules 610, which also have executable instructions 608. Hardware
layer 604 may also comprise other hardware 612 which represents any
other hardware of the hardware layer 604, such as the other
hardware illustrated as part of machine 700.
[0046] In the example architecture of FIG. 6, the software
architecture 602 may be conceptualized as a stack of layers where
each layer provides particular functionality. For example, the
software architecture 602 may include layers such as an operating
system 614, libraries 616, frameworks/middleware 618, applications
620 and presentation layer 644. Operationally, the applications 620
and/or other components within the layers may invoke application
programming interface (API) calls 624 through the software stack
and receive a response, returned values, and so forth illustrated
as messages 626 in response to the API calls 624. The layers
illustrated are representative in nature and not all software
architectures have all layers. For example, some mobile or special
purpose operating systems may not provide a frameworks/middleware
618, while others may provide such a layer. Other software
architectures may include additional or different layers.
[0047] The operating system 614 may manage hardware resources and
provide common services. The operating system 614 may include, for
example, a kernel 628, services 630, and drivers 632. The kernel
628 may act as an abstraction layer between the hardware and the
other software layers. For example, the kernel 628 may be
responsible for memory management, processor management (e.g.,
scheduling), component management, networking, security settings,
and so on. The services 630 may provide other common services for
the other software layers. The drivers 632 may be responsible for
controlling or interfacing with the underlying hardware. For
instance, the drivers 632 may include display drivers, camera
drivers, Bluetooth.RTM. drivers, flash memory drivers, serial
communication drivers (e.g., Universal Serial Bus (USB) drivers),
Wi-Fi.RTM. drivers, audio drivers, power management drivers, and so
forth, depending on the hardware configuration.
[0048] The libraries 616 may provide a common infrastructure that
may be utilized by the applications 620 and/or other components
and/or layers. The libraries 616 typically provide functionality
that allows other software modules to perform tasks in an easier
fashion than to interface directly with the underlying operating
system 614 functionality (e.g., kernel 628, services 630 and/or
drivers 632). The libraries 616 may include system libraries 634
(e.g., C standard library) that may provide functions such as
memory allocation functions, string manipulation functions,
mathematic functions, and the like. In addition, the libraries 616
may include API libraries 636 such as media libraries (e.g.,
libraries to support presentation and manipulation of various media
format such as MPEG4, H.264, MP3, AAC, AMR, JPG, PNG), graphics
libraries (e.g., an OpenGL framework that may be used to render 2D
and 3D in a graphic content on a display), database libraries
(e.g., SQLite that may provide various relational database
functions), web libraries (e.g., WebKit that may provide web
browsing functionality), and the like. The libraries 616 may also
include a wide variety of other libraries 638 to provide many other
APIs to the applications 620 and other software
components/modules.
[0049] The frameworks/middleware 618 (also sometimes referred to as
middleware) may provide a higher-level common infrastructure that
may be utilized by the applications 620 and/or other software
components/modules. For example, the frameworks/middleware 618 may
provide various graphic user interface (GUI) functions, high-level
resource management, high-level location services, and so forth.
The frameworks/middleware 618 may provide a broad spectrum of other
APIs that may be utilized by the applications 620 and/or other
software components/modules, some of which may be specific to a
particular operating system or platform.
[0050] The applications 620 include built-in applications 640
and/or third-party applications 642. Examples of representative
built-in applications 640 may include, but are not limited to, a
contacts application, a browser application, a book reader
application, a location application, a media application, a
messaging application, and/or a game application. Third-party
applications 642 may include any of the built-in applications 640
as well as a broad assortment of other applications. In a specific
example, the third-party application 642 (e.g., an application
developed using the Android.TM. or iOS.TM. software development kit
(SDK) by an entity other than the vendor of the particular
platform) may be mobile software running on a mobile operating
system such as iOS.TM., Android.TM., Windows.RTM. Phone, or other
mobile operating systems. In this example, the third-party
application 642 may invoke the API calls 624 provided by the mobile
operating system such as operating system 614 to facilitate
functionality described herein.
[0051] The applications 620 may utilize built-in operating system
functions (e.g., kernel 628, services 630 and/or drivers 632),
libraries (e.g., system libraries 634, API libraries 636, and other
libraries 638), frameworks/middleware 618 to create user interfaces
to interact with users of the system. Alternatively, or
additionally, in some systems, interactions with a user may occur
through a presentation layer, such as presentation layer 644. In
these systems, the application/module "logic" can be separated from
the aspects of the application/module that interact with a
user.
[0052] Some software architectures utilize virtual machines. In the
example of FIG. 6, this is illustrated by virtual machine 648. A
virtual machine creates a software environment where
applications/modules can execute as if they were executing on a
hardware machine (such as the machine 700 of FIG. 7, for example).
A virtual machine 648 is hosted by a host operating system
(operating system 614 in FIG. 7) and typically, although not
always, has a virtual machine monitor 646, which manages the
operation of the virtual machine 648 as well as the interface with
the host operating system (i.e., operating system 614). A software
architecture executes within the virtual machine 648 such as an
operating system 650, libraries 652, frameworks/middleware 654,
applications 656 and/or presentation layer 658. These layers of
software architecture executing within the virtual machine 648 can
be the same as corresponding layers previously described or may be
different.
Example Machine Architecture and Machine-Readable Medium
[0053] FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating components of a
machine 700, according to some example embodiments, able to read
instructions 716 from a machine-readable medium (e.g., a
machine-readable storage medium) and perform any one or more of the
methodologies discussed herein. Specifically, FIG. 7 shows a
diagrammatic representation of the machine 700 in the example form
of a computer system, within which instructions 716 (e.g.,
software, a program, an application, an applet, an app, or other
executable code) for causing the machine 700 to perform any one or
more of the methodologies discussed herein may be executed. For
example, the instructions 716 may cause the machine 700 to execute
the flow diagrams of FIGS. 1-5. Additionally, or alternatively, the
instructions 716 may implement modules of FIGS. 1-5, and so forth.
The instructions 716 transform the general, non-programmed machine
700 into a particular machine programmed to carry out the described
and illustrated functions in the manner described. In alternative
embodiments, the machine 700 operates as a standalone device or may
be coupled (e.g., networked) to other machines. In a networked
deployment, the machine 700 may operate in the capacity of a server
machine or a client machine in a server-client network environment,
or as a peer machine in a peer-to-peer (or distributed) network
environment. The machine 700 may comprise, but not be limited to, a
server computer, a client computer, a personal computer (PC), a
tablet computer, a laptop computer, a netbook, a set-top box (STB),
a personal digital assistant (PDA), an entertainment media system,
a cellular telephone, a smart phone, a mobile device, a wearable
device (e.g., a smart watch), a smart home device (e.g., a smart
appliance), other smart devices, a web appliance, a network router,
a network switch, a network bridge, or any machine capable of
executing the instructions 716, sequentially or otherwise, that
specify actions to be taken by machine 700. Further, while only a
single machine 700 is illustrated, the term "machine" shall also be
taken to include a collection of machines 700 that individually or
jointly execute the instructions 716 to perform any one or more of
the methodologies discussed herein.
[0054] The machine 700 may include processors 710, memory/storage
730, and I/O components 750, which may be configured to communicate
with each other such as via a bus 702. In an example embodiment,
the processors 710 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a
reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processor, a complex
instruction set computing (CISC) processor, a graphics processing
unit (GPU), a digital signal processor (DSP), an application
specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a radio-frequency integrated
circuit (RFIC), another processor, or any suitable combination
thereof) may include, for example, processor 712 and processor 714
that may execute instructions 716. The term "processor" is intended
to include multi-core processor 712, 714 that may comprise two or
more independent processors 712, 714 (sometimes referred to as
"cores") that may execute instructions 716 contemporaneously.
Although FIG. 7 shows multiple processors 710, the machine 700 may
include a single processor 712, 714 with a single core, a single
processor 712, 714 with multiple cores (e.g., a multi-core
processor 712, 714), multiple processors 712, 714 with a single
core, multiple processors 712, 714 with multiples cores, or any
combination thereof.
[0055] The memory/storage 730 may include a memory 732, such as a
main memory, or other memory storage, and a storage unit 736, both
accessible to the processors 710 such as via the bus 702. The
storage unit 736 and memory 732 store the instructions 716
embodying any one or more of the methodologies or functions
described herein. The instructions 716 may also reside, completely
or partially, within the memory 732, within the storage unit 736,
within at least one of the processors 710 (e.g., within the
processor 712, 714's cache memory), or any suitable combination
thereof, during execution thereof by the machine 700. Accordingly,
the memory 732, the storage unit 736, and the memory of processors
710 are examples of machine-readable media.
[0056] As used herein, "machine-readable medium" means a device
able to store instructions 716 and data temporarily or permanently
and may include, but is not be limited to, random-access memory
(RAM), read-only memory (ROM), buffer memory, flash memory, optical
media, magnetic media, cache memory, other types of storage (e.g.,
erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM)) and/or any
suitable combination thereof. The term "machine-readable medium"
should be taken to include a single medium or multiple media (e.g.,
a centralized or distributed database, or associated caches and
servers) able to store instructions 716. The term "machine-readable
medium" shall also be taken to include any medium, or combination
of multiple media, that is capable of storing instructions (e.g.,
instructions 716) for execution by a machine (e.g., machine 700),
such that the instructions 716, when executed by one or more
processors of the machine 700 (e.g., processors 710), cause the
machine 700 to perform any one or more of the methodologies
described herein. Accordingly, a "machine-readable medium" refers
to a single storage apparatus or device, as well as "cloud-based"
storage systems or storage networks that include multiple storage
apparatus or devices. The term "machine-readable medium" excludes
signals per se.
[0057] The I/O components 750 may include a wide variety of
components to receive input, provide output, produce output,
transmit information, exchange information, capture measurements,
and so on. The specific I/O components 750 that are included in a
particular machine will depend on the type of machine 700. For
example, portable machines such as mobile phones will likely
include a touch input device or other such input mechanisms, while
a headless server machine will likely not include such a touch
input device. It will be appreciated that the I/O components 750
may include many other components that are not shown in FIG. 7. The
I/O components 750 are grouped according to functionality merely
for simplifying the following discussion and the grouping is in no
way limiting. In various example embodiments, the I/O components
750 may include output components 752 and input components 754. The
output components 752 may include visual components (e.g., a
display such as a plasma display panel (PDP), a light emitting
diode (LED) display, a liquid crystal display (LCD), a projector,
or a cathode ray tube (CRT)), acoustic components (e.g., speakers),
haptic components (e.g., a vibratory motor, resistance mechanisms),
other signal generators, and so forth. The input components 754 may
include alphanumeric input components (e.g., a keyboard, a touch
screen configured to receive alphanumeric input, a photo-optical
keyboard, or other alphanumeric input components), point based
input components (e.g., a mouse, a touchpad, a trackball, a
joystick, a motion sensor, or other pointing instrument), tactile
input components (e.g., a physical button, a touch screen that
provides location and/or force of touches or touch gestures, or
other tactile input components), audio input components (e.g., a
microphone), and the like.
[0058] In further example embodiments, the I/O components 750 may
include biometric components 756, motion components 758,
environmental components 760, or position components 762 among a
wide array of other components. For example, the biometric
components 756 may include components to detect expressions (e.g.,
hand expressions, facial expressions, vocal expressions, body
gestures, or eye tracking), measure biosignals (e.g., blood
pressure, heart rate, body temperature, perspiration, or brain
waves), identify a person (e.g., voice identification, retinal
identification, facial identification, fingerprint identification,
or electroencephalogram based identification), and the like. The
motion components 758 may include acceleration sensor components
(e.g., accelerometer), gravitation sensor components, rotation
sensor components (e.g., gyroscope), and so forth. The
environmental components 760 may include, for example, illumination
sensor components (e.g., photometer), temperature sensor components
(e.g., one or more thermometer that detect ambient temperature),
humidity sensor components, pressure sensor components (e.g.,
barometer), acoustic sensor components (e.g., one or more
microphones that detect background noise), proximity sensor
components (e.g., infrared sensors that detect nearby objects), gas
sensors (e.g., gas detection sensors to detection concentrations of
hazardous gases for safety or to measure pollutants in the
atmosphere), or other components that may provide indications,
measurements, or signals corresponding to a surrounding physical
environment. The position components 762 may include location
sensor components (e.g., a Global Position System (GPS) receiver
component), altitude sensor components (e.g., altimeters or
barometers that detect air pressure from which altitude may be
derived), orientation sensor components (e.g., magnetometers), and
the like.
[0059] Communication may be implemented using a wide variety of
technologies. The I/O components 750 may include communication
components 764 operable to couple the machine 700 to a network 780
or devices 770 via coupling 782 and coupling 772 respectively. For
example, the communication components 764 may include a network
interface component or other suitable device to interface with the
network 780. In further examples, communication components 764 may
include wired communication components, wireless communication
components, cellular communication components, near field
communication (NFC) components, Bluetooth.RTM. components (e.g.,
Bluetooth.RTM. Low Energy), Wi-Fi.RTM. components, and other
communication components to provide communication via other
modalities. The devices 770 may be another machine or any of a wide
variety of peripheral devices (e.g., a peripheral device coupled
via a Universal Serial Bus (USB)).
[0060] Moreover, the communication components 764 may detect
identifiers or include components operable to detect identifiers.
For example, the communication components 764 may include radio
frequency identification (RFID) tag reader components, NFC smart
tag detection components, optical reader components (e.g., an
optical sensor to detect one-dimensional bar codes such as
Universal Product Code (UPC) bar code, multi-dimensional bar codes
such as Quick Response (QR) code, Aztec code, Data Matrix,
Dataglyph, MaxiCode, PDF417, Ultra Code, UCC RSS-2D bar code, and
other optical codes), or acoustic detection components (e.g.,
microphones to identify tagged audio signals). In addition, a
variety of information may be derived via the communication
components 764, such as location via Internet Protocol (IP)
geo-location, location via Wi-Fi.RTM. signal triangulation,
location via detecting a NFC beacon signal that may indicate a
particular location, and so forth.
Transmission Medium
[0061] In various example embodiments, one or more portions of the
network 780 may be an ad hoc network, an intranet, an extranet, a
virtual private network (VPN), a local area network (LAN), a
wireless LAN (WLAN), a wide area network (WAN), a wireless WAN
(WWAN), a metropolitan area network (MAN), the Internet, a portion
of the Internet, a portion of the public switched telephone network
(PSTN), a plain old telephone service (POTS) network, a cellular
telephone network, a wireless network, a Wi-Fi.RTM. network,
another type of network, or a combination of two or more such
networks. For example, the network 780 or a portion of the network
780 may include a wireless or cellular network and the coupling 782
may be a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) connection, a Global
System for Mobile communications (GSM) connection, or other type of
cellular or wireless coupling. In this example, the coupling 782
may implement any of a variety of types of data transfer
technology, such as Single Carrier Radio Transmission Technology
(1xRTT), Evolution-Data Optimized (EVDO) technology, General Packet
Radio Service (GPRS) technology, Enhanced Data rates for GSM
Evolution (EDGE) technology, third Generation Partnership Project
(3GPP) including 3G, fourth generation wireless (4G) networks,
Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), High Speed
Packet Access (HSPA), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave
Access (WiMAX), Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard, others defined
by various standard setting organizations, other long range
protocols, or other data transfer technology.
[0062] The instructions 716 may be transmitted or received over the
network 780 using a transmission medium via a network interface
device (e.g., a network interface component included in the
communication components 764) and utilizing any one of a number of
well-known transfer protocols (e.g., hypertext transfer protocol
(HTTP)). Similarly, the instructions 716 may be transmitted or
received using a transmission medium via the coupling 772 (e.g., a
peer-to-peer coupling) to devices 770. The term "transmission
medium" shall be taken to include any intangible medium that is
capable of storing, encoding, or carrying instructions 716 for
execution by the machine 700, and includes digital or analog
communications signals or other intangible medium to facilitate
communication of such software.
Language
[0063] Throughout this specification, plural instances may
implement components, operations, or structures described as a
single instance. Although individual operations of one or more
methods are illustrated and described as separate operations, one
or more of the individual operations may be performed concurrently,
and nothing requires that the operations be performed in the order
illustrated. Structures and functionality presented as separate
components in example configurations may be implemented as a
combined structure or component. Similarly, structures and
functionality presented as a single component may be implemented as
separate components. These and other variations, modifications,
additions, and improvements fall within the scope of the subject
matter herein.
[0064] Although an overview of the inventive subject matter has
been described with reference to specific example embodiments,
various modifications and changes may be made to these embodiments
without departing from the broader scope of embodiments of the
present disclosure. Such embodiments of the inventive subject
matter may be referred to herein, individually or collectively, by
the term "invention" merely for convenience and without intending
to voluntarily limit the scope of this application to any single
disclosure or inventive concept if more than one is, in fact,
disclosed.
[0065] The embodiments illustrated herein are described in
sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice
the teachings disclosed. Other embodiments may be used and derived
therefrom, such that structural and logical substitutions and
changes may be made without departing from the scope of this
disclosure. The Detailed Description, therefore, is not to be taken
in a limiting sense, and the scope of various embodiments is
defined only by the appended claims, along with the full range of
equivalents to which such claims are entitled.
[0066] As used herein, the term "or" may be construed in either an
inclusive or exclusive sense. Moreover, plural instances may be
provided for resources, operations, or structures described herein
as a single instance. Additionally, boundaries between various
resources, operations, modules, engines, and data stores are
somewhat arbitrary, and particular operations are illustrated in a
context of specific illustrative configurations. Other allocations
of functionality are envisioned and may fall within a scope of
various embodiments of the present disclosure. In general,
structures and functionality presented as separate resources in the
example configurations may be implemented as a combined structure
or resource. Similarly, structures and functionality presented as a
single resource may be implemented as separate resources. These and
other variations, modifications, additions, and improvements fall
within a scope of embodiments of the present disclosure as
represented by the appended claims. The specification and drawings
are, accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a
restrictive sense.
* * * * *